Who chooses which ports make it, and which are shuffled off to the retirement home for the permanently disconnected? The fickle finger of gadget fate has left many inputs by the wayside, and they often weren't the worst. Here we've rounded up ten of tech evolution's most endearing and infuriating oddities, obsolete ports we mourn or bemoan.

Every day we plug something in to something else, and every time we
think, "That's clever, and it works really well," or, "For the
love of all things multi-pinned, why do they make connecting things
together so damn hard?" So we invite you to join us in a celebration of sorts -- a wake for the world's redundant inputs.

All of the ports are on our list because we love them, or love to hate them. You'll almost certainly disagree with some of our selections, so don't forget to harangue us, question our parentage and call into question our right to write about technology via the comments section, or our lovely forums. On the off chance you actually enjoy the feature, you may be interested in the top ten off switches.

Come, join with us as we tour our favourite ports that have slipped into obscurity -- or are well on the way... -Ian Morris